The disclosed invention is a method for supporting cooling pipes and reinforcing bars prior to installation of a cast concrete layer thereupon in an ice rink involving rink chair support sections with coupling means, which affords longitudinal coupling of a plurality of support sections end-to-end.
During the installation process of the cooling pipes and reinforcing bars in an ice rink, prior to receiving the cast concrete layer thereon, rink chair support sections similar to the ones described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,948 (Gillespie) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,001 (Wiebe) are lined up in rows to span a full width of the ice rink on the horizontal ground surface thereof because a single rink chair support section is insufficiently long to span the full width of the ice rink. Each row of the support sections is formed by overlapping support sections laterally. This arrangement results in wasted material as each rink chair support section contributes one fewer individual rink chair to a longitudinal length of the row due to the need to align the support sections by overlapping each adjacent longitudinal end portion of adjacent support sections. Even after forming the rows, the support sections remain free to move relative to one another as the support sections are not coupled to each other. Only after the cooling pipes and reinforcing bars are placed upon the support sections is each support section restricted in longitudinal movement; however, the support sections still remain free to move transversely.
An example of a prior patent that describes floor elements that can be coupled so as to form an ice rink is U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,646 to Burley. The patent given to Burley shows ice rink floor elements which comprise fastening elements that afford coupling of adjacent floor elements by sliding lateral insertion of the male fastening element of a first floor element into the female fastening element of a second floor element. However, these floor elements comprise channels through which coolant may be pumped, and as such do not support cooling pipes as in traditional construction of ice rinks like the apparatuses of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,467,948 and 5,876,001.
Another example of a prior patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,517,411 to Patterson for a fastener for refrigerator evaporator. The patent to Patterson includes a stem and a clip with an opening having tangs for fastening the clip to the stem. The tangs of the clip function as the retaining mechanism to fasten the clip to the stem. While the fastener is simple, it has not been applied to the field of apparatuses for supporting cooling pipes in ice rinks.